Why doesn't God just kill Satan to abolish evil and temptation?
God is stronger than anything else in the universe. Therefore, He is capable of vanquishing Satan. In that case, why doesn't God just kill Satan to abolish evil and temptation? As a little girl I used to wonder about this. After reading the Bible, it became clear how much God values Free Will. He values it so much he even lets Satan, his enemy, have it (see my earlier post here about Free Will and why it's important). Therefore, although God has the power of killing Satan, he chooses not to use it.
C.S. Lewis adds a corollary to this observation: he indicates that God chooses not to kill Satan for now. He writes:
"Why is God landing in this enemy-occupied world* in disguise and starting a sort of secret society to undermine the devil? Why is He not landing in force, invading it? Is it that He is not strong enough? Well, Christians think He is going to land in force; we do not know when. But we can guess why He is delaying. He wants to give us the chance of joining His side freely." - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952), in Book 2, Chapter 5: The Practical Conclusion.
* the 'enemy-occupied world' C.S. Lewis is referring to is the current Earth.
Therefore, it seems that God is letting us make our own choices and pick our own path... by 'delaying' some of his actions. However, we need to be ever aware that he could act tomorrow, today, or... NOW.
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C.S. Lewis adds a corollary to this observation: he indicates that God chooses not to kill Satan for now. He writes:
"Why is God landing in this enemy-occupied world* in disguise and starting a sort of secret society to undermine the devil? Why is He not landing in force, invading it? Is it that He is not strong enough? Well, Christians think He is going to land in force; we do not know when. But we can guess why He is delaying. He wants to give us the chance of joining His side freely." - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952), in Book 2, Chapter 5: The Practical Conclusion.
* the 'enemy-occupied world' C.S. Lewis is referring to is the current Earth.
Therefore, it seems that God is letting us make our own choices and pick our own path... by 'delaying' some of his actions. However, we need to be ever aware that he could act tomorrow, today, or... NOW.
If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog:
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